Ahead of the official launch of the Motorola Photon Q this Sunday on Sprint, the manufacturer has detailed the steps necessary to unlock the bootloader on the device, a necessary prerequisite to begin full-scale Android ROM development on the device.

Previous Motorola Android models were not given the same treatment by the company and require more involved processes for rooting and ROM development without an unlocked bootloader. Going forward from the Photon Q, Motorola expects to release smartphones with unlockable bootloaders, but has so far refused to comment about the availability of its new service for previously released models.

Following below are the steps necessary to unlock the bootloader and the results of the actions taken:

When we generate the specific unlock key for your device, you will void your phone’s warranty. Successfully generating the key (which is emailed to you) voids the warranty. Even if you never actually unlock the device with the key, and even if you re-lock the device. It’s a one-way trip.

When you unlock your bootloader, you wipe out user data on internal memory completely. This includes things like downloaded apps, contacts, text messages, etc. Data on a removable SD card is retained.

You will lose the ability to play DRM protected content, such as HD movie rentals from the Play Store

You might lose the ability to run some applications successfully

You might lose encryption support

You might lose some key functions like Telephony, Radio, and Audio playback

You could cause permanent/physical damage to your device

This does not change a subsidy lock (e.g. works only with a specific carrier)